[Bibendum90949]

Got it as a Whats App forward

[PPS]

Remember Gill & Rohit advancing down the pitch to Jamieson & Co during the 1st session in the WTC Final to negate the swing? Why can't the struggling middle order do something similar so as to upset Anderson's rhythm!? Its painful to see them getting dismissed in similar fashion everytime.

[vibbs]

I predict a long hard day for Indian bowlers.

I expect England to bat through the whole day and reach near 400 by end of play. If luck stays with them, possibly bat till little after lunch tomorrow and get 500. Thereby setting India the task of batting out of their skins to save this match. I agree to the earlier comments that probably its time to rest Pujara and Rahane or atleast one of them.

I feel had Kohli been among runs this would have happened.

[tazmaan]

This will be long innings for Indian bowlers and huge lead for fragile out of form batting lineup.

The current middle order especially Kohli, Pujara and Rahane are taking spots which can be used for bringing up the new crop of players. Surely they cannot do any worst. Regarding Kohli, like Dhoni (at the end) should concentrate on limited overs.

I don't have much hope on Rahul either, his career has been one good innings followed by several flops and Rohit has the habit switching off in between while batting.

All the above players have talent but Pujara and Rahane doesn't have age on their side and that's where the trimming should start.

[NPV]

Despite losing 2 wickets in the first session today, England continue to pile runs and rub loads of salt into India's wounds. Root and Malan playing well, Root seems headed to a century, maybe Malan as well!

This should be England's game all the way - only miraculous batting in the second innings can save India.

[Bibendum90949]

Any inclement weather forecasts for the coming days?

Even then to bat out 6 sessions is a herculean task. This test is as good as gone, so 1-1 and two to go. All is not lost yet. This test would instill some confidence to what was a fragile batting line up in first two tests, with the exception of Root. It means the next two tests would be evenly contested especially with their opening pair getting some runs.

[redCherry]

2014 India-England Series results -
Drawn, Won, Lost, Lost by Innings, Lost by Innings & 240+ runs

And looking at the scoreboard, most likely it would be 1-1 at the end of this test.
And, then we would be on track to repeat 2014 series, deja vu....

[NPV]

With so many of our batsmen out of form and badly in need of one big confidence building innings, this test now presents a great opportunity for just that - bat out the remaining days and accumulate runs for a face saving draw (it will be a huge mental victory in fact).

Get inspiration from the Australian series, from past tests where we've come back from hopeless situations and play that innings of their lives.

[jkrishnakj]

Someone in the current team must do the Dravid ,VVS template for next two days. Who those two are, if at all, time will tell. It’s going to be an agonising watch tomorrow.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Someone in the current team must do the Dravid ,VVS template for next two days. Who those two are, if at all, time will tell. It’s going to be an agonising watch tomorrow.

If Pujara bats 540 deliveries (90 overs) and blunts the bowling, the others just need to bat around him

But these are all just us hoping against hope, reality will likely be very different. In recent times when we've been in a spot, only the last 3 tests in the Australian series and the Lords test have produced unpredictable results for us.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by vibbs

I predict a long hard day for Indian bowlers.

I expect England to bat through the whole day and reach near 400 by end of play. If luck stays with them, possibly bat till little after lunch tomorrow and get 500. Thereby setting India the task of batting out of their skins to save this match..

Oh I wrote this to Jinx England. But it has almost happened. Let me try something else.

India second innings

KL Rahul 85
Rohit Sharma 160
Pujara 50
Kohli 210
Rahane 50
Pant 40
Jadeja 20
Rest 30

India thereby scores 650 thereabouts and leaves 200 runs for England to chase and win in 2 sessions.

Then this happens

Jadeja 6 wickets
Bumrah 2
Siraj 1
Shami 1

And India creates History!

[NPV]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Oh I wrote this to Jinx England. But it has almost happened. Let me try something else.

India second innings

KL Rahul 85
Rohit Sharma 160
Pujara 50
Kohli 210
Rahane 50
Pant 40
Jadeja 20
Rest 30

If just this part happens, it would be history (even a draw is enough from this stage). Typically such games are lost the moment there is such a bad first innings (< 100). But yes, we can draw inspiration from that 1999 test Vs New Zealand when India got 505/3 in the second innings after a first innings of 83 (mentioned in an earlier post).

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by redCherry

Also, the way the English came back after the demoralizing defeat and turned the tables around on India, they deserve credit for that.

And how did the England captain & coach do that !! They got their batsmen out of the slump and got them crossing 50s, with Root scoring a special one (SR:73.33).

Now the Indian captain & coach have to do that now. This will require a special one from Kohli. Can he cross his best of 254* ?

[redCherry]

Originally Posted by vibbs

India thereby scores 650 thereabouts and leaves 200 runs for England to chase and win in 2 sessions.
........
And India creates History!

Oh! If wishes were horses ....

If you ask me, I think we are staring at innings defeat, or at best 'just managing to avoid it'

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Now the Indian captain & coach have to do that now. This will require a special one from Kohli. Can he cross his best of 254* ?

Short answer - No. My prediction is an innings defeat latest by lunch time tomorrow.

The examples of the games where we had our backs to the wall and escaped with a draw are outliers. Also, I don't think the middle orders in those teams were as woefully out of form as the current one, when those drawn games took place. Usually, the middle order is the fulcrum on which huge scores are made, and we all know how much the P-K-R triumvirate is struggling.

No harm in hoping for a miracle, though!